Kingmeow

I believe it's $500+ now.

SpecTro

iTrader: (2)

So i woke up this morning to find a $164.23 charge on my bank. I saw it was made by XM Radio so i called to ask why and apparently my year subscription was due (77 bucks last year :-)). I told her if they could just cancel it since i didnt get to take advantage of the offer i received from my dealer and they asked if it was the 77 dollar one. I said yes and they will now charge that and refund the difference, YEAH BABY lol.

Boraxo

Beware!!! If you cancel autorenew that does not necessarily cancel your subscription. I cancelled my credit card in March but got a bill last week for April $32.58 for 3 months + $47.88 for a year of traffic plus BOGUS $2 "invoice fee".Was told I was not able to qualify for the $77/year again (BS as we know from other posts) and was offered lifetime rate of $400. I responded "that doesn't work for me as I don't know how long XM will be in business" (a fair statement given their financial issues) so I was then offered the $23 for 5 mos and told that I might be able to get another deal when that runs out. That works for me!Thanks again to everyone for keeping this thread updated.

MyTL09

iTrader: (4)

I just did it for my girlfriends Lexus and it worked like a charm

TSC17

Followed the script, and it worked like a charm...

kehvein

Hey Guys! Just got my TL yesterday! Just got of the phone with XM and I just told them that my trial had ended and Acura said that you might have "like a win-back offer or other promotion". The lady on the phone said that she would need to transfer me to a different department. That department asked what the promo was and I told her 77. She said ok let me set that up for you. I wanted XM traffic as well and all together was 130... Ordinary its 220 for both for a year. Around 11 bucks a month!!! Not bad for a noob!

jac1304

So does this include the xm traffic, weather and radio for 130?

AcUrAoN20s

i'm going to have to try that i pay $14.93 a month

Xpditor

I guess it's time to repeat, again, this caveat as people cannot be expected to read all 2500+ posts in all 6 parts.

The SCRIPT is there for a reason. Use it. When you wing it, you not only greatly reduce your chances of success, but more importantly to our community, you could kill the golden goose and ruin it for others coming behind you.

THIS IS NOT A PROMOTION. It is not publicized. It's not like a coupon you cash in.

You are receiving confidential information about an in-house program that SiriusXM utilizes as a sort of last-ditch method to keep people from leaving as subscribers. The first level Customer Service Reps are not even told about its existence. All they know is that, if a customers says they want to cancel, they are to be transferred to the Customer Retention department. Then, those second level CSRs have more options to keep or "win back" a customer who is or has cancelled.

These second level CSRs will still try and get as much money as they can by starting with a higher number. THEY are following a SCRIPT on their end in their computers. You have to reject the higher prices and essentially say the words provided in our SCRIPT so that they can move along in their SCRIPT to get to the lowest price to keep you.

They don't want this known to the general public who are paying the full boat OBVIOUSLY . It is kept quiet. Their attitude is that you are leaving so anything they can get from you is found money. Remember: there is no "cost of goods sold" in satellite radio. It doesn't cost them any more for you to have their signal decoded than if you don't.

However, when you ignore the SCRIPT and this advice, you endanger the whole program. When you call and say, "I want that deal that's going around the Internet..." or words to that effect, the first level CSRs will start asking around about "WTF is this guy talking about?" Now, if upper management hears that the word is out about the in-house program.... thus jeopardizing their whole retail sales paradigm, they would most logically pull the plug.

Yes, they send a flier out with a cheap price and a promotion code to get canceled customers back. That is how we learned of it in the first place. But the number listed in the flier sends you directly to the Customer Retention section. You bypass the first level CSR. That's why the SCRIPT given here tracks the intent of that flier. We also provide optional SCRIPTS for differing circumstances which are tried and true.

IOW: Good luck getting your reduced price. But knowledge always trumps luck. Use the SCRIPT and don't F**k it up for those members coming up behind you. Thanks.

Dave

CocheseUGA

This wasn't true as of last year. I've never had satellite radio before, and wanted to listen to the line-up for even a week to see if I wanted to get in on this deal at some point.

CSR was pretty adamant that there was no trial period, and that was only available to new subscribers.

I may try again soon, but with 3G and Internet Radio...

Xpditor

I just bought a pre-owned Mercedes-Benz with a de-activated Sirius radio.

I called 1-800-XM-RADIO and told them I just bought the car and would like a trial period to see if I wanted to keep it.

No problem. Hooked me right up for the three month trial. She asked if the radio had been activated before. I told her I didn't know but I didn't think so.

With these folks, sometimes you have to call back once or twice to get a cooperative CSR.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

TeknoKing

Didn't follow the script, just told them it's too expensive considering I only listen to one channel.. They gave me another year for $77 bux, plus now they charge some Music Royalty Fee BS.. so total for the year was 88.78.

AcidHorse

Used the script except I modified it to reflect my current 5 month subscription.

The different thing the CSR did was ask what the flyer looked like, in which I didn't have one. So I referred to this image here https://acurazine.com/forums/8962629-post/.

After 5 minutes the CSR processed the order and total cost was $25 for the 5 month deal.

So for 15 months of XM @ $25 per 5 months, total cost comes up to $75! Slick deal indeed!

recoveringphan

I did this last year and it worked like a charm. My year is up next week, so I called a few minutes ago to cancel and try again. Told the first rep that I wanted to cancel, and was immediately transferred to someone else. She asked why I wanted to cancel and I told her that the quarterly auto-renewal of $38 + $6 royalty fee was more than I was willing to pay. She said "OK. I can offer you a year for $77, which is what you paid last year. Would you be willing to do that?"

Yes I am!

No break in service, no royalty fee, no reactivation fee. She did note "now you might not be able to do this again next year." Whatever. Cross that road when I get to it.

rgarjr

I called like 2 days ago and told them I wanted to cancel my sub cuz it was too expensive. I asked if they had the $77 annual sub and he said yes u want that? I said yeah why not. So the total came out to be around $86 bucks.

syracusewhitey

my membership was expiring this month and I called to cancel was transferred to cancellation dept. and spoke with a very nice woman who asked why? I said too much $ she said what did u pay last yr told her 77 she said I'll offer u that rate right now plus royalty fees total 88 for the yr. I said yes, yes. I love the advice on this site.

Joe Foe from Buffalo

XM Sent me a bill cause I canceled my credit card I gave them and they tacked on royalty fee to the $77. I called XM and asked for it to be removed if they want my money. They removed it = $77 total for the year.

2010RMT

I called XM today. My trial ended next week. They gave me the $77 for a year. Remember don't let them do auto renewal. They ask you to agree for renewal at regular price after one year.

They added the $11 music fee.

Good luck.

kenb2009

Renewed for 2nd full yr at $88 incl music fee.
Ken

bbplayer

iTrader: (1)

I called up 800-682-4114, told them my service had expired, and I had gotten something from them that said I could get the service for $77 for a year. The representative said, "sure, no problem." I just had to agree to auto renewal after the year, but could cancel that tomorrow.

I tried saying I would not pay for the the royalty fees, but she would not budge. She said they are required to charge them on every account now. It's probably BS, but I didn't want to mess around with it anymore.

Anyway, Thanks acurazine.

tritonman

This is great, I'll have to try it out in a couple months. Thanks!

CleanCL

iTrader: (4)

Same here.

Called up, followed the prompts to cancel my account. A live person answered, asked why I was canceling. I said I could not pay the higher amount per year. They said, "well I see you had the $77 for one year, we can no longer offer that same promotion two years in a row, but we can offer you $88 for one year."

I accepted.

jazzpicker

Xm will deal before canceling an account. I have had between 2-3 radios for 8 years, usually at a very low price.

Over the past 2 years their price has increased costing me about $130/year for 3 radios. I missed renewing my "promotion" because of a medical issue in the family and XM charged a total of $150 from my Amex card for 2 months of service. I have managed to get some of that back but it is really hard to get a fricking penny back from them. There is a "gotcha" at every corner. I was promised that they would credit my account and it never happened. I'll dispute the charges with amex if I don't get the account straightened out soon.

XM needs more subscribers but with it's current customer service, they are losing customers. I enjoy the channels but it's not worth a fortune and dealing with the company.

As far as I can tell it will cost me $190 something for 3 radios for a year under another promotion. I will pay that as soon as I get back the money they owe me. I would never let them freely draw a cent from a credit card, snail mail and money orders from now on.

XM/Sirius is the most disorganized business I've ever seen. Try googling XM customer Service, it's amazing.

isr

Just called and told them I use to have XM radio ( 3 years ago ), mentioned $77 deal, which was no problem. However it didn't include the playboy channel nor could I add it.... so i just did the $16.99 for everything.... lol gotta have that playboy

Kingmeow

I believe Playboy and Howard Stern is part of the Best of Sirius package, which is not included in the $77 rate. I asked them how much would it cost to add and I think I remember hearing $130+. Bascially it's a non-discounted add-on.

JM2010 SH-AWD

90 day initial trial was coming up. Called and used the script - worked perfectly.

Thanks for the great tip.

phred

I've been doing this for 5+ years in 3 different cars, here's what I've learned. DO NOT give them a credit card number, you're just asking for trouble. Ask them to bill you because you're old-fashioned and your wife needs to write a check (or some such). Note that in the standard agreement, there is an auto-renew clause (I'm a paralegal, I read it I know). So when you start getting bills with weird amounts like $3.47 or $36.77, you know they've auto-renewed you and it's time to call. This last time I got right through to a guy who just took care of me at $88 in about 3 minutes. He even offered me the online option, of his own volition, which I skeptically accepted and was pleased to find actually works! So as noted above, don't expect to get any satisfaction from the first-level CSRs -- these are guys who a few weeks ago worked at the Netgear call center and only knew how to say I want you to reach down and unplug the power from the router ...........

JM2010 SH-AWD

Agree on the credit card. Ask them to send you a bill.

BTW, my CSR did not attempt the $11 music royalty fee effort that others have reported.

ollie526

I renewed mine today. I winged it and just told the first person I wanted the same half off deal as last year. She tells me she doesn't know of any deals at the current time. I say ok can you please cancel me then? She says sure let me transfer you. The next guy says half price is no problem. I didn't even have to ask for it again.

The big question is when will XM and Sirius finally merge completely so I don't keep paying for two accounts!

shellready

I finally did this last Tuesday as a new customer, it went smooth and was easy...this deal is not really a secret and is all over google...hopefully xm wont change it

rgarjr

So what happens if they have your credit card? How do u take it away from them?

Kingmeow

You can't take it away from them but then again I wouldn't worry too much. You just have to be vigilant when they auto renew. Then you need to call back and threaten to cancel.

Just keep checking your credit card statement. Now a days you would be stupid not to check each statement that comes in so you'll notice the renewal.

rgarjr

Yeah I'm thinking if they have your credit card already. Just to call them like a few weeks before your annual sub is up, to negotiate the deal.

Legend2TL

Worked for the 5th year in a row. Although it was only $60 in 2005, now it's up to $88.

JM2010 SH-AWD

I had a strange experience. Trial demo was ending. Called up and used the script and got the $77 deal (no $11 add-on). I asked them to send me a bill, so I'll need to be careful they haven't slipped in the $11.

I also negotiated a rate on the Traffic/Weather, which I've found useful in commuting and long-distance driving. Everything worked fine, and then last night Traffic/Weather wouldn't work.

Called XM, wasted a lot of time on hold, got hung up on, and eventually was told it was fixed, no problem, etc. It still did not work.

Drove to work this morning, everything is re-connected.

I guess all is well that ends well, but XM needs some serious customer service overhauling.

SHAWD10

What rate did you negotiate for the traffic/weather add-on?

JM2010 SH-AWD

$84 for both for a year. The rack rate is $96.

Probably could have done better, but after being on hold for awhile and talking to 2 CSRs I just wanted to get done so I could put my kid to bed!

purple_illusion2

just called and got 5 mo for $19.99

1islandparadise

x2

Boraxo

Just received a message on my GPS from Acura with a special offer from XM. Hmm, that's odd because I just signed up for the 5 month special and 12 months of traffic.

Anybody else get this message and follow up?